First lecture on the Waking Dream

For the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Program Washington School of Psychiatry, Washington, DC
Tom Holman, Ph.D.

This evening we are examining the Waking Dream, a French approach to psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and the work of Nicole Fabre, the major proponent of this approach. While the Waking Dream is used with children, adolescents, and adults, we will be examining its application in child psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Your reading for this class includes three chapters from a book by Nicole Fabre, which I have translated from the French. I have translated the title of the book as « You Can Dream While You’re Wide Awake: Child Psychotherapy and the Realm of the Imaginary » (the literal translation of the title is “The Work of the Imaginary in Child Psychotherapy”). In making these translations and in learning about the Awaking Dream, I have had wonderful opportunities to discuss these subjects with Fabre and her colleagues in their professional organization, the International Group for the Waking Dream in Psychoanalysis (the French acronym for this organization is GIREP). GIREP is a very active organization that publishes a journal, runs a training program, offers lectures and seminars, and organizes a conference every other year. GIREP also maintains an extensive web site (www.le-reve-eveille-enpsychanalyse.com). Because the literature on the Waking Dream is almost entirely in French, this approach is virtually unknown in the United States.

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